One holiday season tradition that many people enjoy and take great pride in is the decorating of the exterior of one's home with festive lights. While all types of lights, from standard colored lights to flashing lights, sequential lights, and even icicle lights are available to choose from, the one thing they all have in common is that the user must typically climb a ladder to place them any higher than 6-8 feet off of the ground. Of course, decorative light strings are often used on homes and commercial establishments at other times of the year. Climbing a ladder under ideal conditions is a safety issue for many, and when climbing in conditions that may include cold, snow, and ice, an accident is all but inevitable. Such climbing is also out of the question for those who may be elderly or handicapped.
The invention solves the aforementioned problem by means of a system and method by which holiday lights are quickly attached to and detached from a structure such as a house. The invention consists of two parts. The first part is a permanent hook that is attached to the structure. It is envisioned that different formats of the permanent hook would be provided for attaching to gutters, along roof lines, around windows and doors, along porches, on wall corners, and the like. Once installed, the user would never have to climb a ladder again to install holiday lights. The second part of the invention is a specialized hook, which would attach to the end of a common extension pole that is typically used while painting or trimming trees. The specialized hook allows the user to hold the string of lights, place them within the permanent hook, and then release the string, all while safely standing on the ground. In a similar manner, the process can be reversed when removing the lights after use.
Several attempts have been made in the past to assist users in mounting and stringing decorative light strings along roof lines, gutters, and other elevated positions. U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,394, issued in the name of Diaco, discloses an outdoor light string support system for organizing and supporting light strings beneath the eave of a building, wherein a plurality of bulbs are suspended from a support member themselves supported from apertures of a device attached to the eave of a building. The Diaco device does not disclose a means or device to elevate the light strings to a support device as in the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,186,644, issued in the name of Mosseau, describes a decorative lighting system with a light string mounting channel, wherein a string of lights is mounted within an extruded plastic channel with the light sockets engaged in apertures and the entire device mounted within a window. Inasmuch as the Mosseau device is designed for interior mounting of a device to hold light strings and does not provide for a means to raise a light string for elevated mounting, the present invention teaches a different apparatus and therefore does not fall under the scope of the Mosseau device.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,141,192 and 6,644,836, both issued in the name of Adams, disclose a hook apparatus for hanging cords or light strings from a gutter or the like. The Adams devices suffer from the same shortcomings as the previously mentioned prior art in that neither provides for a device to assist in hanging such light strings from support members.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,572,062, issued in the name of Limber et al., describes a gutter clip for attachment of linear systems. The clip device engages the gutter and has means for retaining light strings, misting systems, and the like. The function is similar to the Adams designs, but also does not provide light string mounting assist means.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,128, issued in the name of Cheng, teaches a distribution hanger for decorative light strings, comprising a distribution box for distributing light string sets, a power inlet plug, conductor wires providing a plurality of outlet sockets, and a hanging hook. Unfortunately, the Cheng device merely provides a device that gathers light strings in an organizer-type box without providing means to mount the light strings at an elevated location with a specialized device.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,379, issued in the name of Hill et al., discloses an apparatus for deploying decorative wiring upon elevated locations, comprising an elongated pole, accessory tools for mounting gutter clips, said gutter clips having adhesive backing and barbs for attachment to a gutter, a prong-type device for grasping the clips, and tool arms for engaging the wiring. The Hill et al. device is cumbersome to use with specialized and extravagant accessory designs and involves multiple changes of said accessories to mount the wiring. Additionally, the clip system utilizes a different fastening mechanism than does the present invention.
Additionally, various patents have been issued based on an ornamental design for gutter hooks or other string light supporting systems, notably D 492,890 issued in the name of Adams, D 469,682 issued in the name of Gary et al., and D 346,735 issued in the name of Glisch et al.
None of the prior art particularly describes a specialized device for grasping a light string and placing it on a plurality of pre-installed hooks. Accordingly, there is a need for a means by which decorative exterior light strings can be quickly and easily installed without resorting to climbing a ladder.